


Go Back to Where You Felt Safe

by Ruyu



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Episode Tag, First Kiss, M/M, Protective Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-12
Updated: 2012-12-12
Packaged: 2017-11-20 23:01:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/590618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruyu/pseuds/Ruyu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Follow up to Episode 3x10 - Huaka'I Kula (aka: the one with the girl scouts and totally not-boyfriend touching)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Go Back to Where You Felt Safe

Steve’s clothes were still wet and his busted lip was steadily dripping blood into his mouth, but he swallowed it down. He wouldn’t dare spit out a mouth full of blood in front of Lucy, whom was settled close against his hip, her small arms wrapped protectively around his neck. She’d left Chin’s side the moment she saw him and jumped into his arms, asked if he was okay and why he was all wet and a dozen of other questions she couldn’t stop to let him answer. He’d smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear and carried her away, Danny and Chin following behind them.

Danny kept cutting looks at him as they descend to the trail head where the vehicles and civilization were waiting for them. The moment he set Lucy on the ground she latched onto his leg and pressed her face into his hip, “Steve, Steve, Steve.”

He knelt down to meet her tired gaze, “Yeah, Luc?”

“I’m glad you’re okay,” she murmured, obviously in need of a good nights sleep and some food, considering she’d been awake and hiking for the past several hours. 

Steve could see Lucy’s mother get out of a patrol car and start running towards them. “We’re both okay and it’s because you did such a great job. You were so brave and I’m sure you’ll get a badge for this, Luc.” 

She giggled faintly against his cargo pants and turned her head to look at the flashing lights of the cars around them, spotting her mother. “Mom!”

She gripped his leg tightly for a moment and looked at him like he was the greatest thing in the world and took off towards her mother.

“Well, well, well,” Danny said as he strutted up to him. “Paint me surprised, babe.”

“What?” Steve huffed after finally being able to spit out the blood still pooling in his mouth. “I had it under control.”

Danny rolled his eyes, but Steve knew there was no ill-will behind it. “That’s not what I’m talking about.” His partner pulled a small towel out of his backpack and handed it to Steve. “The girl...”

“...she’ll be fine,” Steve hurried to supply. He hated the idea that Danny though he didn’t know how to be sensitive, especially towards children. After all this time with Grace, Steve thought he’d been showing Danny how good he could be around his daughter. But...

“Oh, I know that, Steve, relax,” he told him, forehead crinkled in surprised hurt that he would think that of Steve. “I just, when I said...”

“What, Danny?”

Danny coughed and pressed his hand against his bandaged arm. “I told you to take care of her and you did, alright. I was worried sick that you were going to go all SUPER SEAL on us and-”

Steve was frowning now, a grimace set into his features. “-and what, Danny? Leave her in a tree somewhere, or throw all of us off a cliff, or just not be responsible in general?”

“Babe, that’s not... just hold up a second,” Danny backtracked, holding his hands up to calm him down. “Listen to me for just one damn second and comprehend what I’m saying. I’m trying to tell you that you did a good job, you asshole. Lucy obviously adores you and just look at her,” Danny said, pointing to Lucy down the road in her mother’s arm. She was chatting rapidly and smiling and pointing to Steve with every other gesture. “She’s fine, better than fine. You took good care of her, Steven. Jesus.”

“Danny, I...” Steve sighed, exhausted. “I kept thinking if it was Gracie with me, instead of Lucy. You’d have killed me, killed me if anything had happened to her. But I could have taken him down so many times, but I couldn’t guarantee her safety, so I just... didn’t do it.”

“I know, babe. That’s okay, you were being, you know, responsible. It’s what good parents do.”

Steve shook his head and wiped at his mouth, eying Danny’s arm. “You need to go to the hospital for that?”

Danny patted his arm gingerly. “Nah, I was patched up pretty nicely, if I do say so myself. What about your mouth, has it quit bleeding yet?”

He shrugged and spit with noticeably less blood in it. “I think I’ll be good, Danno.”

Danny just looked at him for a few moments before he grabbed Steve’s arm, his grip sure and strong as he tugged Steve away to an empty SUV, putting them out of the way of anyone’s prying eyes.

“You asshole, I don’t even...” Danny growled under his breath before he pushed Steve back against the SUV and hugged him tightly, face pressed against chest. The air rushed out of Steve’s lungs and every muscle was suddenly tight. When Danny didn’t move, Steve breathed in and let the tension in his body flow out. His partner kept his forehead pressed against his chest and tightened his arms around Steve’s waist. Okay, got it, not going anywhere.

“Danny...” he whispered, dropping his head to press his temple against Danny’s, arms rising to wrap around the man’s wide shoulders. “I got you, buddy.”

“I knew that you’d probably die first before you let anything happen to her,” Danny said against into the fabric of his shirt. “That’s what I was worried sick over.”

“Oh, Danny.” And Steve couldn’t argue with that because he had always liked it when Danny worried about him; made him feel less alone and important to a guy with a very short list of important people in his life. 

“Why? Why does this keep happening to us?”

Steve didn’t get it. “Why what?”

Danny looked up at him from his chest and smiled so fondly at Steve he could hardly believe he’d gotten so lucky. “I seriously cannot take you anywhere. The odds are not in our favor. I take you camping with me and we get jacked. You take me fishing... we get jacked. You take me hiking...”

Steve rolls his eyes. “I fall off a cliff. I get it, Danny.”

“We just don’t have a high rate of success going on here, you see what I sayin’?”

He tightened his arms around Danny’s shoulders pulling him up and closer, their noses touching. “This feels pretty successful to me, Danno.”

“Yeah, it does,” Danny agreed as he let their lips meet. 

~

Lucy tried to find Steve amongst the HPD and conservation officers. When she did, she wouldn't have interrupted Gracie's Dad and Steve for the world. He and Steve deserve a little quiet time with each other after what had happened. She was still totally going to marry him when she got old enough - if Mr. Williams hadn't done it first.

**Author's Note:**

> Lord help me stop this spontaneous writing I'm doing. This is unbeta'd and I just really needed to write this. I've read a lot of criticism about how inactive Steve was, but I mean, what would you do with a kid to think about. Cheers.
> 
> Title from the lyrics of "That's Okay" by The Hush Sound


End file.
